Shū-shé Língzhī (Lingzhi)/Reishi - Artists' Conk, Ganoderma applanatum

Known by diverse names around the world, and highly valued in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), this is one of only a few mushrooms known to be used medicinally/recreationally by species other than humans - wild mountain gorrillas have been observed foraging, jealously hoarding and ingesting this mushroom for its presumed medicinal compounds, which, at least in humans, have been scientifically demonstrated to have potent anti-depressant and pain-relieving properties. In the English-speaking world, the 'Artist's Conk' has been used only for etching the mushroom's pore-bearing underside to reveal darker layers of material to create an image on a self-standing, mushroom 'frame'.